It was always just a matter of time before Marc Spagnuolo of Wood Whisperer fame found his way onto Rough Cut. The notion had been there for some time, but crazy schedules and 2000+ miles of separation conspired against the collaboration. Until now. And what a project to bring him on for. The Hall Tree [...]Read More »

Finishes took front stage in Episode 05 as Tommy and renown master finisher Charles Neil demo a handful of finish options on a few simple shaker night stands. Charles does a great job putting Tommy through the paces, but that’s no surprise given the woodworker’s 40+ years of experience. He offered some basic guidelines for [...]Read More »

The Rough Cut Brain Trust deemed the Pencil Post Bed project of Episode 03 complex enough to skip the traditional Road Trip, opting instead to use the additional time in the shop capturing the many steps involved. This also meant bringing in the big guns — otherwise known as Steve Brown. Steve’s been a frequent [...]Read More »

It was all hand tools, all the time in Episode 04 of this season’s Rough Cut. Tommy spent the day at the shop of Peter Galbert, chairmaker, toiling away at a Windsor Chair project. The piece used green wood, which is an increasingly popular material choice for today’s woodworkers. The project is not for the [...]Read More »

We wasted no time this season before diving right into a real meaty project – a rocking chair built in the Arts & Crafts style inspired in no small part by one of Tommy’s favorite creators, Frank Lloyd Wright. As you’ll see in the episode, the crew took a trip out to Illinois to the [...]Read More »

Season 5 has arrived! To kick off this much-anticipated 5th season, Tommy brings in Paul Wahlberg of Wahlburgers fame for Episode 01. Their mission? Build an outdoor prep station for Paul’s harbor side restaurant in Hingham, MA, called Alma Nove. Turns out Paul can work the bench almost as good as he does the grill. [...]Read More »

We’re hard at work planning an awesome new season of Rough Cut for you and we want to hear from our fans! One of our shows this season will be featuring jigs of all kinds – the favorites from Al, Eli, Steve, and Tommy! We’d like to hear about your best jigs – and if [...]Read More »

No matter how much experience you have at the bench, it still pays to be reminded of some basics. Shop safety, for example. We’re probably all guilty on this front from time to time, particularly when it comes to keeping eyes and ears protected/healthy. Keeping tools sharp is another. No, it’s not the most glamorous [...]Read More »

To all those smitten woodworkers with a special someone in their lives (and also to those without!), we wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day. We’re sure a fair number of lovestruck bench jockeys out there put their skills to use and crafted up some woodshop goodies to give to the significant other today. If [...]Read More »

As many of you know, that humble celebration of woodworking that we called WoodExpo took on a new form last year. Long-standing Rough Cut guest Eli Cleveland took the event by the reigns in 2013 — changing the name to the Furniture Project — and poured a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears into [...]Read More »